Lost Souls
by Hobbit985
Summary: Short fic about the quest for the islanders to find their soul mates. Centers round Charlie and Claire. Enjoy.


Charlie had never felt so alone. Everyone on the island seemed to have found a soul mate. Kate had Saywer, Jack had Anna, and Rose had Bernard. Even Hurley had Libby! Who had Charlie got? No one. Not anymore anyway. Ever since Claire had found him trying to protect Aaron he'd been alone.

He sighed watching the world from the tree he was sat in. Yes it had come to that. Sitting in trees. He could always have gone to the beach or the hatch, but why force himself upon people and only get angry stares? He felt just as alone when he was with people than when he was on his own.

He could see everyone happily mingling down at the beach and it just made him feel more depressed.

"Charlie?" He almost fell out the tree when he heard someone say his name. Glancing down he saw Claire, the one person he most wanted to talk to, to be trusted by.

"Claire!" He said startled and began to climb down hurriedly.

"I just wanted to tell you that Jack's looking for you." She said flatly, making to walk round him.

"Wait!" Charlie said, putting out an arm to stop her.

"What?" She asked, her beautiful face framed by her wavy blonde hair. Aaron was in her arms, snuffling.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" He began.

"I've heard it before Charlie. I don't want to know, ok?" Claire replied, looking down at Aaron.

"Claire, I really am sorry. But the thing is…"

"Forget it Charlie." Claire began to walk away.

"You don't get it do you!" He shouted miserably after her. "I saved you from Ethan, I was there when you gave birth, I found you peanut butter for gods sake! I make one mistake and all that goes out the window. Is our friendship worth nothing?"

Claire paused and looked back frowning.

"Charlie, you tried to steal my baby…"

"No, I was sleepwalking. You only think I was trying to steal him. Why would I tae him away Claire? Why would I want to 'cause you pain?" Charlie asked angrily.

"I…" Claire was stumped.

"All my life people have been telling me I'm no good, that I can't take care of anyone. I just wanted to take care of you and Aaron." Charlie could feel himself on the brink of tears. Claire just looked at him helplessly.

"Charlie… I…"

"No. You forget it Claire. Forget our friendship. Forget what we had. Forget the pain you caused me." Charlie said, before turning and stalking off into the jungle leaving Claire standing limply with Aaron, who had burst into tears.

Charlie hid in Sun's garden. No one was around so he sat picking weeds, the tears rolling down his face. Life couldn't get much worse. Not only was he on a desert island with murderous people and monsters with no hope of rescue, but it looked like he'd just isolated himself for good.

"Stupid, bloody…" he pulled up another weed, shredding its leaves into a thousand pieces; that's what his heart felt like. Felt like it was breaking, always breaking, never stopping.

"Charlie?" He looked up and saw Claire this time without Aaron.

"Come to tell me that I'm worthless?" He asked, wiping his tears vigorously.

"No," she stepped forward and knelt next to him. I came to tell you I'm sorry."

He looked up.

"I didn't realise how much pain I was causing you. I thought about it and realise that there was nothing to say you were taking Aaron away from me. I jumped to conclusions." Claire said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Your friendship means a lot Charlie and to fight over something so trivial is stupid."

Charlie didn't know what to say.

"Can we just… start over?" Claire asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said, standing up. Claire followed suite.

"Charlie, there was something else…" Claire muttered turning slightly red. "The truth is… I haven't stopped thinking about you ever since we fought and I've been dreaming of you every night. I think… I think that we could be a lot more than friends."

Charlie paused, suddenly realising how close they were. He glanced around, checking that there was no one watching.

"You know," Charlie, took Claire's hands in his own. "I think you could be right."

He leant forward and kissed her gently. It looked like Charlie Pace had finally found his soul mate.


End file.
